MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE,
CA The Center for Biological Diversity, National Parks Conservation Association
and Barstow-based Citizens for Mojave National Park filed a protest recently
with the U.S. Interior Department to halt mining claim patenting (privatizing)
of 673 acres of public lands in the Mojave National Preserve. If the Interior
Department issues a full patent, the land will leave public ownership
and become private lands as provided for under the 1872 mining law jeopardizing
the future of the desert tortoise.

The park lands targeted
for privatization are associated with the Cima Cinder Mine in the austere
and beautiful Cinder Cones National Natural Landmark area of the Preserve;
lands that also are designated critical habitat for survival and recovery
of the threatened desert tortoise, the official state reptile of California.

"The desert
tortoise is in a steep decline its critical habitat needs to be protected,
not given away to private interests for mining and future development."
said Daniel Patterson, Desert Ecologist with the Center. "The Interior
Department should defend our American natural heritage by keeping this
land public."

Represented by attorneys
Roger Flynn and Jeff Parsons of the Western Mining Action Project, the
conservation groups seek to ensure that the Interior Dept. carefully consider
whether the mining claims are valid before making a decision that may
result in the loss of park lands. If the claims are not valid, then they
cannot be patented or mined. If the Department finds some of the claims
are valid, then the California Desert Protection Act of 1994 requires
that the patent may convey only the sub-surface minerals and not ownership
of the surface lands. Then, the miners may be allowed to operate on the
claims but could not consider selling the land to developers.

"These lands
belong first and foremost to the American public, and we feel that's where
they should stay," said Courtney Cuff with the National Parks Conservation
Association. "National Park land serves an important role in restoring
our spirit and it would be a shame if this acreage of the Mojave was illegally
taken away from the American public."

The National Park
Service (NPS) regulates all mining in parks on both patented and unpatented
claims. But, there is another good reason for limiting the patent for
valid claims in the Preserve. The NPS regulations better protect park
resources from mining on claims where the surface belongs to the park
than on claims that are fully patented. Miners can still mine on claims
even if they receive only a limited patent, as long as they meet the standards
of the NPS mining rules, adopted in 1977.

If the Interior Department
invokes the 1872 mining law, the Caffee's private mining company can get
full title to the public lands for a mere $2.50 per acre a relic of a
bygone era when America was committed to disposing of its common lands.
Congress clearly did not want privatization of National Park Service land
in the Mojave National Preserve when it passed the California Desert Protection
Act.

"The purpose
of national parks and national natural landmarks is for public use, not
as a giveaway of public lands for private gain." said Peter Burk,
of Citizens for Mojave National Park.